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Parks Associates recently released a whitepaper that discusses key trends in the IoT space for 2017.

“The Internet of Things is driving the reinvention of consumer technology and entertainment markets,” Brett Sappington, senior research director, Parks Associates, said in the announcement.

“New players and product categories are emerging that challenge traditional players with established business models and distribution channels. Online giants have the scale and technology to take risks in new areas of innovation. In some cases, these innovations are transforming whole sectors of the connected home,” Sappington continued.

According to Parks’ research, the average U.S. broadband household has “more than eight connected computing, entertainment, or mobile devices, plus another two connected home devices such as networked cameras, smart thermostats, or smart lighting.”

That strikes me as very interesting, as my household contains only about five—and, as a millennial, I feel more is expected of me there.

“Consumer interaction with the devices and services in their lives – at home, in the car, on the go – will continue to evolve in 2017 to be more personal and targeted,” Jennifer Kent, director, research quality and product development for Parks Associates, said in a prepared statement. “Approximately 50% of U.S. broadband households plan to buy a smart home device in the next 12 months, and they will tie these devices to their mobile platforms, broadband connections, and other devices to create a singular but ever-expanding user experience.”

Below are the 10 trends Parks Associates noted on in their announcement:

1. Voice control is vying to become the primary user interface for the smart home and connected lifestyle.

7. To cross the chasm, the smart home industry will continue to develop new use cases for security, peace of mind, and energy management.

8. Insurers are exploring new business opportunities in smart home products and services and will continue to launch trials and new partnerships.

9. Wearables and smart watches are expanding as healthcare tools and will be integrated with other IoT applications.

10. Consumerization of healthcare services and devices drives integration with smart home ecosystems and new business models.

The whitepaper also includes a list of “Players to watch in 2017” for a variety of categories, including voice control, security and the smart home, connected health devices, and insurance and the smart home.

The Z-Wave Alliance, an open consortium of global companies deploying the Z-Wave smart home standard, is adding a security requirement to its long-standing interoperability certification.

According to Mitchell Klein, Z-Wave Alliance executive director, the Alliance Board of Directors voted to mandate all devices receiving Z-Wave Certification after April 2nd, 2017 to include the new advanced Security 2 (S2) framework, an important addition to the Alliance’s certification program that will require manufacturers to adopt a stronger level of IoT security.

“The recent spate of hackings and DDoS and other things going on are more or less happy coincidences and not motivation on our part, and the reason I put it that way is because something as complex as the S2 Security protocol that we’ve established has been in development for more than four years,” Klein told Security Systems News. "No one can afford to sit on their hands and wait—consumers deserve IoT devices in their home to have the strongest levels of security possible. IoT smart home technologies that don't act will be left behind."

Klein said that the update is backwards compatible, so any devices that are running on the current chip sets can be firmware updated to include S2 without having to make any hardware changes, and the updates can be pushed.

“The reason why we moved forward with it is because we wanted to ensure that as we got more and more complex devices, and more and more complex systems, that security becomes a base part of all devices and everything in the system,” Klein explained. “In order to achieve that, we had to take it up a level and make sure that it is going to run on the current chip set, so that our members don’t have to go and change or redesign hardware.”

Z-Wave's S2 framework was developed in conjunction with cybersecurity hacking experts, giving the already secure Z-Wave devices new levels of impenetrability, according to Klein. “We are so confident that this is hack proof, that we actually post the S2 protocol on the website and it is publically available,” he said.

Klein said that by securing communication both locally for home-based devices and in the hub or gateway for cloud functions, S2 also completely removes the risk of devices being hacked while they are included in the network. By using a QR or pin-code on the device itself the devices are uniquely authenticated to the network as well. Common hacks such as man in the middle and brute force are "virtually powerless" against the S2 framework through the implementation of the industry-wide accepted secure key exchange using Elliptic Curve Diffie-Hellman (ECDH), he said.

Finally, Z-Wave also strengthened its cloud communication, enabling the tunneling of all Z-Wave over IP (Z/IP) traffic through a secure TLS 1.1 tunnel, removing vulnerability.

By changing the way security is implemented, Klein said that there are a number of improvements. “You will find that the response time from things like door locks, which actually had to require authentication, is much quicker, and with much less overhead (single exchange as opposed to a back and forth exchange),” he said.

For 2017, from a technology perspective, Klein said there will be discussions about a new generation Z-Wave chip. “We have a lot of things up our sleeve on what that is going to do and I think that is going to put a lot of smiles on people’s faces,” he said.

KING OF PRUSSIA, Pa.—Wearable Health Solutions, formerly Medical Alarm Concepts, is moving from its original direct-to-consumer model to a dealer-only model with its new mPERS offering, the iHelp + 3G.

“The goal of this product and our company is to sell to dealers and to give them everything that they would need to help them to sell this product, and that includes the dealer portal,” Jennifer Loria, Wearable Health Solutions COO told Security Systems News.

The company is looking to roll-out its new mPERS in the end of January 2017. The company is currently sending out demos—“We’re ready and we’re excited about it,” Ronnie Adams, company president and CEO, told SSN.

Adams said that the company’s new name, unveiled in June, aligns it with the wearable field, a key aspect of medical alert devices.

The iHelp + 3G mPERS stands out through its new dealer portal, according to Adams, which will give dealers the ability to upsell and turn on certain features. “It gives them the ability to offer features and functionality where they couldn’t do it before,” Adams said. He also lauded the product’s light weight—1.5 ounces—and its small size.

The new device works on a 3g network and includes fall detection, geo-fencing and tracking capabilities in addition to its main help button. It device can also emit sound to help locate it if it is lost. The unit can notify specifically identified contacts if the user leaves the geo-fenced area; it will also notify these contacts when the user reenters the zone, Adams said.

“If somebody pushes the SOS [button], that’s the only time that it goes to a monitoring center—or if somebody falls,” Adams said.

“If the dealer wants us to brand it, we will brand it for the dealer,” Adams said. In certain events, key contacts will be sent a map, showing the user’s location and even this map can be white-labeled for the dealer, Adams said.

The company’s first solution, a PERS device called the MediPendant, was sold direct to consumer through big box stores and is being phased out over the next six months. While Wearable Health Solutions will services MediPendant, “The business going forward is going to be strictly with dealers, and with a dealer program, for the iHelp + 3G,” Adams said.

The company had a middle step between selling the MediPendant direct to consumer, and it’s 3G device to dealers. “In the interim, while we were developing this [3G] product, we came out with a 2G product, which got us into the field and enabled us to understand … the cellular space a little bit better and the dealer space a little bit better,” Adams said.

The company had a dealer portal for its 2G offering, originally called the iHelp, to learn more about the needs of the company’s dealers, Loria said. The original iHelp is no longer being sold.

BALA CYNWYD, Pa.—Connect America, a large provider of PERS products, recently announced two acquisitions through its Healthcare Division; Racine’s Medical Alert, based in La Junta, Co., and Spirit Homecare’s Medical Alert Division, located near Des Moines, Iowa.

“We acquire… local providers that really have a regional reach and the opportunity to grow those businesses by cultivating referral sources in the geography where they operate,” Richard Brooks, president of Connect America’s Healthcare Division, told Security Systems News.

By acquiring Racine’s Medical Alert, Connect America’s Healthcare Division expands into Colorado. The company will continue to use it’s Racine’s brand.

Brooks said that the purchase of Spirit Homecare’s Medical Alert Division opens the company’s opportunities in the Des Moines. This division will fold into Connect America’s network in the Des Moines area.

These acquisitions complement the company’s July acquisition of Home Buddy, based in Kansas, Brooks said.

Brooks described the company’s approach to incorporating acquired businesses, “We enhance the sales and marketing operation, we take some of the back office functions and move them to our headquarters, and emphasize a sales effort on a local basis.”

Connect America’s Healthcare Division has finalized four acquisitions in the past 12 months and expects a similar rate for the next year, according to Brooks.

The Healthcare Division grows both organically and through acquisition; 70 percent of the division’s growth comes organically and 30 percent is through acquisitions. The company did not announce the number of subscribers included in the deal.

News continues to pour in on the portential of cloud-based services, especially on the heels of Security Systems News' Cloud+ conference, which brought early adopters of the cloud together in Austin, Texas, to look at how the security industry will continue to adopt and leverage the cloud, not only to increase RMR but to provide better and more cost-effective solutions for customers.

Many of the Cloud+ speakers, from integrators and consultants to end users and manufacturers, highlighted the many challenges of educating people on the benefits and solutions the cloud can provide within security, such as in the management of data and video, two areas expected to see tremendous growth over the next few years.

According to new findings from global research firm IHS Markit, based in London, the video software market is expected to rise from $6 billion in revenue in 2015 to more than $9 billion in revenue by 2021.

According to the new Video Software, Security, and Analytics Intelligence Service from IHS Technology, the atomization of media distribution and the switch from hardware-based technology solutions to cloud implementations are key drivers for the $3 billion in revenue growth over the next five years.

“Taken together, these two forces have created a market where value is shifting towards the frontend,” Cecilia Zhu, analyst at IHS Technology, said in the announcement. “A superior user-experience has become fundamental to securing increased consumer spend.”

Globally, content security accounts for 32 percent of the digital video software market, according to IHS.

“While demand for robust security solutions is unlikely to deteriorate, particularly in the presence of high-value UHD and HDR content, the segment is effectively saturated,” Zhu said.

By contrast, Online Video Platform solutions will continue to generate large, year-on-year returns through 2021. “The necessity of online distribution backed by a platform pre-integrated across a rich ecosystem of partners, means demand for OVP solutions will rise over the next five years,” Zhu said.

According to IHS, North America is the key region for the video software market, generating roughly $2.9 billion, and the region’s value relates primarily to confluence of three factors: the presence of large media companies, their outright scale, and their sheer number.

“The region’s economic dominance should not, however, overshadow the existence of cutting-edge video services in Europe, Asia, and the Middle East, and the technology demand that these services generate,” Zhu said.

According to the research firm, Cisco has a 15 percent share of the video software segment, the largest globally. “The company has proven adept at transitioning into the video space, and at using its longstanding presence in core, metro, and access-network infrastructure to cross and upsell video-specific software,” Zhu said.

Some of these companies said that the move allowed them to refocus on the core of their business.

One thing that each of these companies highlighted is new-found flexibility and the ability to focus more heavily on offering new services and technologies to their customers. Specifically, these companies highlighted offerings such as mobile services and video verification with I-View Now.

This has been a pretty hot topic in the industry, it seems. I know if came up at CSAA’s annual meeting in the panel entitled “Owning vs. Contracting – Future Trends for Monitoring Centers.” I’d like to hear your opinions; Is this trend going to continue? Feel free to check out our most recent News Poll to share your views on the business benefits of either third party monitoring centers or operating your own central station.

The one common lament I hear from those in the security industry today—from dealers to integrators to end users to manufacturers—is how difficult it is to find good young professionals.

Many of our Class of 2016 “20 under 40” winners, both in the integrator and end user categories, are great examples of what this next wave of young security professionals are capable of, and many are involved in their local chapters of organizations such as ASIS International, SIA and ESA, which recently held its Rising Leaders Forum at Skamania Lodge in Stevenson, Wash., an event that was designed to gather rising leaders and industry veterans to participate in a leadership and team-building program.

Terry Peters, CEO and founder of Leader Solutions and Decision Support LLC, developed the team-building program. “Leadership is the art of influencing people in such a way as to gain their willing desire to accomplish the mission,” he said in the announcement. “Leaders are followed because their actions impact the environment in which they operate and people see them as a catalyst to achieve the desired outcome.”

This ESA event included multiple hands-on activities that turned strategy into action. It began with a fitness boot camp where attendees teamed up. Groups worked together to accomplish physical tasks such as carrying a makeshift gurney and 150-lb ‘dummy’ while exercising mental skills in communication and adaptation. Peters led a “lively” keynote presentation discussing leader development, team building, and change management from a Special Forces perspective, ESA said in its announcement.

Michele Monheim of Eastern States Sentinel Alarm Services said in the announcement, “The Rising Leadership Forum had a different spin than the usual trade show. It gave us a chance to get to know each other better in a more relaxed environment and look at leadership in a different perspective. Great job on the event and thank you for a great experience.”

The Leadership Development Discussion Panel featured Kirk MacDowell, vice president of platform sales at Alarm.Com, Bruce Mungiguerra, senior vice president of operations at Moni, and Greg Simmons, co-owner and vice president at Eagle Sentry. This team was joined by Robert Few, director at Charter Communications-IntelligentHome, as moderator for a group exchange of real-world experiences, implemented best practices, and industry-specific leadership strategies.

The YSP Rising Leaders Forum was center stage for the culmination of ESA’s Class of 2016 Mentorship Program. There were group presentations highlighting workforce development, customer lifecycle and experience and corporate social responsibility.

“The YSP event in Stevenson, Washington was the culmination of a wonderful nine-month experience,” Mentor Don Childers said in the announcement. “Working with my mentee was an absolute joy. And now, I not only have business contact, but I have a friend for life that I would not have had if it were not for this program. A truly wonderful experience and I thank everyone involved.”

There has been a lot of good news coming out lately on the state of residential security, which over the past few years has been bolstered by interactive and connected services, home automation, DIY and the emergence of mobile everything.

Technavio recently released a report on the residential security market, which shows that from 2016 to 2020 the global market for residential security will grow at a 7.34 percent CAGR—from $21.93 billion to $31.25 billion. The North American market will rise to about $15 billion in 2020, up from $12.51 billion in 2016, at a CAGR of 4.56 percent.

On the heals of that research, a report on home automation from Zion Research shows that the global home automation market was valued at around $5.0 billion in 2014 and is expected to reach $21.0 billion in 2020, growing at a CAGR of around 25 percent between 2015 and 2020.

Interestingly, the home automation market was dominated by North America, which accounted for about 40 percent of the total market in 2014. North America is followed by Europe and Asia Pacific, with Europe expected to witness robust growth in home automation systems market owing to strong demand from Germany, UK and France, according to the report.

The report also noted that the wireless system management segment dominated the home automation market in 2014, accounting for more than 40 percent of the overall market in 2014. With increasing use of products enabled with Wi-Fi technology, demand for wireless system management is expected to go up, the report said.

From my conversations with residential dealers, many are taking advantage of these new opportunities, providing scalable smart home packages that provide their customers with the kind of home automation customization and interactive services they are clamoring for, while increasing the potential RMR for an account.

Dealers are also finding that the more customers interact with their security and home automation systems, the more likely they are to stay a customer and add on services in the future. In addition to providing greater control over their security, surveillance, lighting and heating systems, homeowners are realizing energy savings, reduction in insurance costs, and overall greater peace of mind as a result of this smart home revolution.

As the studies mentioned above bear out, the potential within residential security is limitless.

Day three kicked off with the third general session. Next, the day's keynote speaker, Dr. Robert Rohm, opened up a discussion on different personalities and how businesses can use a variety of tactics to increase connections and sales.

Rhom lead the group through an exercise to see elements of their own personalities, whether they lean toward outgoing or reserved, task-oriented or people-oriented. Defining different pairings as dominant (outgoing and task oriented), inspiring (outgoing and people oriented), supportive (reserved and people oriented) and lastly the cautious-type (reserved and task oriented).

He then gave advice on how to approach folks with these personalities; dominant people like to see results and like to be their own boss, and supportive people like acceptance and appreciation.

In "Latest Advances in Fire Technology," Steven McCurdy, Honeywell Security and Fire's director of sales, strategic accounts, distributions products group, looked at several issues related to fire installations and where newer technologies fit in. He pointed to several different new state legislations, including New York, which mandated CO detectors in all commercial facilities-not just new buildings, and Illinois, with new and existing K-12 schools.

McCurdy discussed wireless detections and some its key applications, such as with historical buildings, places of worship, and parking garages. "it's been a great solution for this industry," he said.

Another key technology, according to McCurdy, is early detection. "We detect smoke, but what's happened? There's already a fire," he said. Earlier this year the company acquired early detection and fire technologies from Xtralis.

Stan Martin, SIAC's executive director, presented "Maximizing Law Enforcement Relationships," among the final sessions of this year's CONNECT. He looked at the benefits of security companies working with their local law enforcement.

Direct pieces of advice included talking with law enforcement about problem accounts and seeing what can be done about those customers. "Everyone has problem accounts," Martin said. Among first steps, he said, "You should know the alarm coordinator in the cities you operate in."

There are benefits of forming these relationships, Martin said, including notice of pending ordinance changes, "They might even call you and ask for your input."

Martin gave several examples of how companies can interface and communicate with its law enforcement, including inviting chiefs and council members to events in the alarm industry, or congratulating new promotions in the force.

It was great being at CONNECT this year, there were a lot of interesting conversations going on, both in the breakout sessions as well as in networking events. Hope to see you all next year!

Day Two

The second day kicked off with a general session. Marek Robinson, Honeywell Security & Fire’s VP of sales, intrusion, addressed this year’s theme, “Your Voice. Your Network. Your Future.” The dealer’s voice comes into the conference in the form of feedback on past CONNECT shows. As a result, he said, “We went about our breakout sessions in a completely different fashion.” This year, the educational sessions are 60 percent more dealer-lead. Dealers also said they would like to see more networking options, and the “network” comes in with a special networking reception organized for later in the day.

Robinson added that the future is looking bright. Business models are changing, he said, giving examples like Uber, a very large transportation company which owns no cars, and Airbnb, an icon in the accommodations industry, though it doesn’t own any real estate.

Todd Reif, president, Honeywell Fire Safety Americas, got on stage to talk a bit about the company’s approach to the IoT. Rief said that the company is looking to take a new approach, including more third party integrations, "We are moving from a closed stance ... to a more open stance."

Inder Reddy, president, Honeywell security products Americas, discussed several things, including Honeywell’s focus in 2016 on creating aesthetically pleasing systems and the new Lyric Gateway panel. The Gateway is really quick to install, he said, which leaves technicians with more time to engage with the user and walk through the new system. “A more engaged user is a more sticky user,” Reddy said.

Robinson included more voices from the dealer by bringing onstage Scott Hightower, president and CEO of Verified Security, to talk a bit about the benefits of the dealer network and Security Solutions’ Jamie Vos to discuss the future for the industry. Vos identified video technologies as a trend, adding that “video needs to be interactive” in order to beat lowest cost options that can be bought online.

Following the general session, I attended “Essential Components Of A Great Branding Strategy in the Digital Age,” presented by Tammy Beil, chief growth officer for marketing firm TABiel. Beil started the session by listing top recognized brands across thee world, including Google, McDonalds, Ford and Nike. Marketing and branding is a conscious effort, she said, "this is not something that happens haphazardly, there's a reason that you know these companies."

Branding, according to Beil, is a valuable asset to the company, and provides a return on the investment put into it. "If you do marketing right and you do your branding right, it will pay you back in spades," she said. “It will boost your immediate sales."

Beil advocated using social networks to push out marketing. One attendee in the branding question asked about how to best utilize LinkedIn. Beil advised interacting, engaging and joining groups on the site, as well as using it for a personal resource and to recruit. "Use it as a tool to leverage what you need."

“DIY- It's for Real” was among the next round of breakout sessions. Quentin Gunther, dealer development manager for Honeywell, opened the session. He began by addressing ecommerce, how prevalent it is, and how some companies may be able to operate an online store while maintaining their current model—though, it isn’t necessarily for every company.

Greg Judge, director of sales for Comtronics, spoke next on the methods Comtronics used in setting up a DIY offering. Comtronics operates 12 Verizon dealerships, apart from its security business, and sells a boxed DIY kit from those store, “This fit our model and we went with it.” Honeywell helped with the design of the box, he said, making it something that really shows what the product was designed for.

Part of the company’s go-to-market strategy involves setting up live demos in stores, complete with elements from the home. “They can see the lock move, they can see the lamps turn on and off,” Judge said.

Michael Morton, vice president of sales and marketing at EMC Security, discussed his experiences with DIY, which includes selling 200 systems since the company rolled out the offering this summer. "We do limit it, because we offer support. It's one of the big selling points for our services," Morton said. “If you can't quite get there, we have [techs] that are ready to go."

Morton said the company struggled with one point, "Do we really trust our customer to do this on their own? ... This is life safety." As a result, EMC does not offer DIY fire products or glass-break sensors.

During the second general session, David Kaiserman, president of Lennar Ventures—a company that focuses on building new homes that come equipped with smart home technologies, shared his view on connected home. "Homes today are remarkably analog,” he said. “But, the rest of the world around us have changed in ways that you can't really explain.”

One issue that Kaiserman identified is when a salesperson complicates things by trying to sell a consumer on a system that they were ready to get, and then cause concern in the customer. “They don't have to worry about the complexity, they just get to experience the lifestyle,” he said.

Alice DeBiasio, vice president, general manager cloud services for Honeywell Security and Fire then got on stage to discuss some of Honeywell’s latest offerings. She highlighted the company’s integrations with Sky Bell and the August smart lock, as well as new push notifications, geofencing reminders to arm the system and a partnership with I-View Now.

The company is also doing new work with buildings, according to Brian Casey, Honeywell general manager of SMB solutions. There are more and enhanced video offerings, including with Honeywell’s Performance and Equip series cameras. "In the area of video, we are back in the game," Casey said.

This CONNECT’s first keynote speaker was motivational speaker and New York Times bestselling author Grant Cardone.

Cardone energetically covered many topics to selling, including the positives to disruption—that it brings change—and importance of using social media as a free form of promotion.

He approached the idea that business say they don't have time to utilize social media. To make a point, he used Snapchat to take a video, which he uploaded to Twitter in minutes, while on stage speaking.

My last educational session of the day was “25 Concrete Ways to Make Your Business Better Today,” presented by Affiliated Monitoring’s president Stanley Oppenheim. "We're going to do things here that you're going to take care of on Monday,” Oppenheim said.

The quality of trucks was one item he brought up. "You never roll a truck that has a dent in it," said Oppenheim. “It is no longer a truck, it is a rolling billboard. ... A dirty truck is inexcusable."

Another piece of advice was to always recruit, including with wait staff at restaurants and salespeople that call the office—anyone that gives a great impression. "Your best employees will come from non traditional sources," he said.

At the networking reception, created following feedback Honeywell received on the CONNECT event, I got the chance to meet several members of the Security One team, including SSN “20 under 40” winner, Chris Neumann. Corey Robertson, Security ONE director of marketing, said that things have been well following the company’s acquisition of Homematix.

It was also great hearing from dealers including Stuart Lowe, vice president – key/national accounts for Lifeline Security and Fire, and Isaac Walton, security sales and management, Advanced Electric & Alarm Systems, about the benefits they saw in the Gateway panel, such as with apartment buildings or people who would use their phone for most of their security functions.

Finally, today was Veterans Day and it was great to see speakers voice their support for those who have served in the military, as well as their families.

Day One

I made it down to Florida safely from Maine, arriving this afternoon.

The first session I attended was "What Behavioral Insight REALLY Can Do for You," presented by Carletta Clyatt, senior vice president of the Omnia Group. Clyatt took an interesting look into workplace dynamics by discussing recognizable work styles and behaviors in both leaders and employees. For example, she advised the attendees to consider how a leader who is very routine-focused could best work with an employee who prefers a varied workplace, with new challenges.

Additionally Clyatt discussed how different types of people can be motivated by different things. As an example, she said that her sales people—typically having an assertive personality—are motivated by individual goals, while her service employees—less assertive and more group focused—responded better team-rewards.

“Merging a Diverse Workforce,” the second session I attended, also approached the workplace and its variety of different employees. Jamie Vos, general manager for Security Solutions, looked at five different generations (traditionalists, baby boomers, gen Xers, millennials, and Gen Z—or, ‘gamers’) and their unique motivating factors.

Each generation is looking for a different environment, culture, set of rewards and benefits, according to Vos. Baby boomers might want more control in their position, while millennials tend to value more time off. Traditionalists might want flexible work hours, while gen Xers would like rewards like gift cards—not a bonus to be put toward bills.

Vos highlighted the need to look at a company’s culture as well as its environment. “You need to discover what your culture is,” he said. “You need to put it into words.” This means exploring why the company exists, how its employees behave, what it is the company does, and how it plans to succeed.

Also today, Honeywell announced the new Lyric Gateway—a simplified panel that can allow dealers to pursue new markets, such as renters, condo and second homeowners, and those who frequently move. The panel offers a simple design, sporting a keypad without a touchscreen display, doesn’t need to be wall mounted and comes with a desk stand.

Here in Florida, I got the chance to talk about the new system with George Janelis, Honeywell’s senior channel manager for builder and connected home markets. The simplified format allows the unit to be hooked up either with the customer’s WiFi or Ethernet and plug into the wall for power, which increases dealers’ profitability by decreasing the time needed for the install, he said.

Janelis told me that the system is mobile-centric, and can work with users’ connected home devices- it also uses voice notifications from the panel to transmit alarm information easily to the user. “We’re getting a huge amount of positive feedback from [our dealers],” he said.

Pre-conference

Early Thursday morning I’ll be headed down to Hollywood, Fla., for Honeywell’s 2016 CONNECT conference.

Looking over the schedule of sessions, it looks like there will be some interesting conversations about DIY offerings—including Honeywell’s DragonFly offering—as well as on hiring a business culture.

I’ll be updating this blog periodically, highlighting some of the people I meet and key conversations as well as interesting educational sessions—hope to see some of you down there! Check back for more details.

Last week’s malware attack sent a sobering chill through the security industry, as it illuminated the cybersecurity vulnerabilities of IoT products, showing how easy it is to hack into unsecured IP devices.

The hackers, who were able to affect sites including Twitter, Spotify and CNN, launched a distributed denial-of-service (DDoS) attack using tens of millions of malware-infected devices connected to the Internet to overwhelm Dyn, a provider of Domain Name System services.

Although the attack amounted to a temporary inconvenience for millions, it underscored the need for cybersecurity standards for the IoT world.

Toward that end, the Cloud Security Alliance (CSA) released this month a new guidance report titled “Future-proofing the Connected World: 13 Steps to Developing Secure IoT Products,” which was created to help designers and developers of IoT-related products and services understand the basic security measures that must be incorporated throughout the development process.

With the release of this report, the CSA looks to provide much needed education and direction to product developers who know their products are at risk of compromise, but may lack the understanding as to where to start the process for mitigating that risk.

“It is often heard in our industry that securing IoT products and systems is an insurmountable effort,” Brian Russell, chair IoT Working Group and chief engineer, cyber security solutions with Leidos, said in the announcement. “However, with the help of our extremely knowledgeable and dedicated volunteers, we are providing a strong starting point for organizations that have begun transforming their existing products into IoT-enabled devices, as well as newly emerging IoT startups. We hope to empower developers and organizations with the ability to create a security strategy that will help mitigate the most pressing threats to both consumer and business IoT products.”

Specifically, the report lays out 13 considerations and guidance for designing and developing reasonably secure IoT devices, to mitigate some of the more common issues that can be found with IoT device development. Additionally, realizing that often times there is a need to quickly identify the critical security items in a product development lifecycle, researchers also outline the top five security considerations that when applied will begin to increase an IoT product’s security posture substantially.

The CSA IoT Working Group is focusing on understanding the relevant use cases for IoT deployments and defining actionable guidance for security practitioners to secure their implementations. The group is led by Russell, with initiative leads Priya Kuber and Dr. Shyam Sundaram. Nearly 30 CSA IoT working group members contributed to development of the 80-plus page guidance report.